New Year’s Eve
With three days of my Inner Work Project (see last 2 posts) under my belt, I joined friends for a full day of welcoming in 2023. We began the celebration with Australia and New Zealand, two of the first countries to greet the new year, and worked our way across the world. This event was sponsored by One World in Dialogue, an organization evolving into Evolve World.
We enjoyed presentations representing the culture of each country or part of the world. Two stand out in my memory. The first featured a beautiful young woman wearing a Kimono. She sat on the floor singing and playing a very long Japanese string instrument draped across her lap and extending out several feet to her left. Later a Sufi woman’s Whirling Dervish dance mesmerized us.
Sending Healing Energy
We spent 45 minutes in meditation between each presentation. As I entered into the silence, I envisioned each country, pulling them into my consciousness. Extending my hands, I sent healing energy based on what I knew about them, their circumstances, and their needs.
Word for the Year
For several of the past few years, I’ve chosen a word for the year. Some of the words selected include Joy, Thrive, and Opportunity.
Awe emerged as my word for 2020 … a combination of choice and inner knowing. Two months later, the world locked down. It was an awesome event … and not the awe-inspiring year I had hoped for.
That year it was still possible to invite friends to gather, reflect, choose a word, and engage in a ritual of celebration.
In 2021, pandemic depression eclipsed any thought of choosing a word to bring focus to a new year. By 2022, I had recovered enough to make a choice. In need of Grace, that word became a beacon that guided me as I wrote in my journal, Grace Notes. Those notes graced me with clarity about my inner life as I said goodbye to 2022.
Gifted with Reverence
I didn’t choose reverence as my word for 2023. I had been pondering what word would guide me through 2023. A couple of friends asked if I had chosen one yet. My mind was blank. And then … during one of the New Year’s Eve meditations … with my hands outstretched … offering healing to some part of the world … Reverence came to me as a gift. An inner voice of wisdom spoke, “Reverence is your word for 2023.”
Reverence is a word I have long loved. It seems to me the world would be a much better place if we treated all of LIFE with reverence:
- If we got serious about treating feminine / partnership values reverently, violence against women would decrease dramatically.
- If we gave human beings the reverence they deserve, mass shootings and war wouldn’t even be possibilities
- If we gave reverential meaning to the word “care,” institutions with care in their name would go out of their way to remove barriers so that those they serve would actually experience being “cared” about and for.
- If we treated the earth with reverence, our decisions about protecting the environment would become a priority and our actions would show it.
Several years ago, I expressed my desire for treating the earth with reverence in a conversation with a young man dear to me. He has a brilliant scientific mind and a passionate heart for protecting the earth. The word reverence didn’t quite fit for him. He offered up the word “cherish.” 😊
Reverential Cherishing
This word that appeared as a gift from the Universe lingered below the surface as I returned to my project on New Year’s Day and the day after. Reading through the angst recorded in my 2022 Grace Notes, my frailties and vulnerabilities coming more sharply into view, it slowly dawned on me …
… if I treated myself with reverence … if I held myself in high regard … if I actually cherished mySELF… my life would be a whole lot better.
And so, in 2023, this is how I am being called to “be.” Being reverential toward mySELF is a new focus for my spiritual practicing.
I am well aware that my frailties and vulnerabilities still lurk and at any moment may derail me. And now I have a context for calling mySELF back to my “worthy” center. From there, who knows what might open up.
A vision of the Divine jumping up and down with glee and proclaiming, “She’s getting it … she’s finally getting it!” brings a smile to my face.
Soul Scripting
To change your story, you must be willing to change your script.
~Unknown Wisdom Teacher
In my 2022 Grace Notes, I wrote, “Is it possible to develop a different story at age 80?”
Almost immediately, while listening to a presenter speaking on embodiment, I heard,
As long as we are alive, it is possible.
~Unknown
I just love the way the Universe works … when I’m paying attention!!!
Beautiful Linda! I just love how your saw yourself/Self jumping up and down with glee. And Reverence is such a profound word, both its meaning and how it sounds.
I participated in the New Year’s One World in Dialogue in 2021 and it was very moving.
Love,
Ani
Thank you, Ani,
The loving Divine Spirit I experienced in 1999 in the midst of the most challenging time in my life and reinforced for me through my recent study of the mystics would jump up and down with glee at any beloved being coming to value the spirit with which they were infused at birth. It just takes some of us longer to appreciate that than others. I’m grateful to be “getting it” at a deeper level now as the spiral of life continues. Indeed, there is still life at 80 and beyond!
Really lovely, Linda! Wrapping you in cherished reverence…so easy to do.
Thank you, Teresa,
I am enjoying our deepening connection.
We have all reverentially cherished YOU and how exciting it is that you have joined our club!!!! You warm our souls!!!!
Diana,
Your response brings a smile to my face and a chuckle in my heart. How blessed I am to have friends who cherish me because of who I am vs despite who I am. Makes so much difference and I’m sure contributed to my having come to the point in my life where I can reverentially cherish mySELF. Thank you for being one of those friends.
Very exciting how the Universe is calling you!
Exciting indeed!
I love the word “reverence” also. As a child, I read a book about Albert Schweitzer that focused on his guiding principle in life, which he called “reverence for life” — which included reverence for all living organisms. It made an impact on me. I think your combining of “reverence” and “cherishing” into “reverential cherishing” speaks even more deeply about this quality. I’m glad you are treating yourself with reverential cherishing. That reaffirms for me the importance of treating myself as well as others that way as well.
I love the idea that there can and should be an intersection between reverence and cherishing. Thanks for the thoughts!
Eliot … what a pleasant surprise to receive your comment. I see that Carol’s comment about Albert Schweitzer provided food for thought for you. Your openness and the depth of your perspectives is what I so value about you. Thank you so much for weighing in.
Thank you, Carol, for the story about Albert Schweitzer. It is humbling to be in such company … and even to have been credited with deepening the quality of his thinking. WOW!! And both words came to me as gifts … reverence dropping in during a meditation and cherish from that extraordinary young man I wrote about. I am noticing a difference within my being as I live with those words this first month into 2023. I am experiencing an ability to return to reverential cherishing during events which in the past would have sent me into a downward spiral. I am cherishing the gifts and the effect they are having on me. Appreciation for and curiosity about the unfolding journey mounts.
Linda, thank you for the reminder to choose a word for the year. I had forgotten that; I need to turn my attention to that again. And I love your word “Reverence”!
Glad to serve as a reminder, Ruth,
What I especially value about having been given the word “reverence” as my word for 2023 is that it calls forth the pure spirit in which I was born vs being a corrective for my failings on the journey of life. You are such a bright spirit, Ruth. I hope you appreciate that as you grapple with extremely difficult life challenges. I hope you remember to be gentle with yourself. You deserve all the grace you so generously give to others.